Global warming / climate change - possible Disney responses (from 7/24 podcast)

[cyiland]

Thanks to the podcast crew for airing my question (on 7/24/08) regarding global climate change and how Disney might try to respond within their theme parks. Of COURSE Disney can do little to address true catastrophe situations such as the "melting polar cap/beachfront Orlando" scenario. At that point, we'll be well beyond thinking about theme parks.

I told my wife that my question had made it onto the podcast (yeah!), and that as a group you said there probably isn't much they can do beyond "more indoor attractions" and, of course, "eating the polar bears" (your idea, not mine!).

In response to hotter days, I thought we might see more of things like you already see in the FW section of Epcot: architectural sunbrellas over sidewalks to help (slightly) with the heat issue.

My wife came up with what I thought was a great comment, and something I wouldn't mind seeing. She said that they could move to longer night-time hours. She added that in fact, they've already moved toward that in recent years with their "Extra Magic Hours".

Add to that the talk/rumors of Disney's Night Kingdom, and maybe it's selling Disney short to say that there's not much they can do. I would PERSONALLY LOVE it if I could vacation in August, with the knowledge that I could just shift sleeping habits and visit from 9pm to 3am in the relative cool! (Don't know how that would fly for the kids, though!)

Assuming that this is all part of a long-term climate change, regardless of whether or not it's man-made (which I'm convinced that it is), we won't reverse the trends for a long time, and we're going to have to live with more heat and more storms on our WDW trips.

Any other thoughts or ideas about what Disney might do to help us vacationers cope?

Chris

 

[lorax123]

I pondered this question myself. Glad I'm not alone in wondering about it.

But, if it were the worst case scenario, I can't imagine there's anything that can be done. We'd just all be too worried about survival anyway. There are only so many polar bears to eat and it's gonna be tough fighting John off to get them.

Seriously tho. It could be a huge issue in a few years. But, they'll adapt if the economy supports it. The ideas you've thrown put are good tho.

I agree the threat is more than Likely caused by humans. 6 billion people in the world, how could that not cause any issues?